Last Chance
by Bkute
Summary: Matt Hardy and Emily Prentiss have been married for 10 horrible years. They are on the verge of divorce when disaster strikes. Can they get through this situation and save their marriage?
1. Chapter 1

"I can't do this anymore!" Emily yelled as she grabbed her keys and made her way to the door. She was so tired of his crap. She understood that he was a famous wrestler and that he traveled a lot, but when he was home, he made no effort to spend time with her. He would always say he was going to hang out with Jeff and the guys or that he was headed to the gym.

"Really! Who goes to the gym at Midnight?" Emily would always say to herself.

"Fine, leave then Bitch!" Matt screamed as the door slammed. He knew that this was all his fault and that he didn't want her to go, but it would be a cold day in hell before Matt Hardy ran after any woman.

Emily's black SUV sat in the driveway for a long time. She was trying to decide where to go and what to do. It was almost midnight and she needed to be at work in a few hours.

"I guess I'll go stay at a hotel." She said to herself as she started the truck and drove off. Matt had been watching her the entire time. Hoping that she would just come back in the house so they could talk. She didn't, however. She had driven off and Matt was sure that this time she wasn't coming back.

After some thought, Matt decided that he needed a drink. He hopped in his Dually and headed to the closest convenience store. He picked up a case of Miller Highlife and a pack of Cowboy Killers. Then he headed back to the house.

"Well, she finally had enough! Enough of the cheating, enough of the lying, enough of everything." Matt thought to himself as he sat in his living room drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. Emily never let him smoke in the house.

"Ding Dong!" The doorbell went as it interrupted the silence. Matt knew it was Lauri. She had been Matt's side girl for the past 5 years of his marriage. She was the reason Emily had left him. Emily had found a video of Lauri and Matt on Matt's phone and that was the last straw.

"I'm not in the mood for talking. Meet me in the room, no clothes, and you have to go home when we're done!" Matt said as he opened the door to see the beautiful bottle blonde standing in front of him. She did as she was told and within a few hours, she was gone and Matt was left sitting alone in his living room drinking beer and missing his wife.

Motel 6, Cameron, NC…

"Damn it!" Emily said as her phone rang. She thought it was Matt and she had no intentions of talking to him. Not after what he had put her through. She had been a good wife for 10 years. How could he?

Emily looked at her phone and quickly realized that it wasn't Matt. It was Hotch. Why couldn't Matt be a good husband to her like Hotch was to Hailey?

"What's going on Hotch?" Emily asked as she sat up in bed.

"We have a bad one Prentiss. I need everyone in the office, now!" Hotch told her. He had an unusual seriousness in his voice. Emily knew this was bad.

"I'm on my way. Be there in about 30 minutes." Emily advised as she hopped out of bed and began to get dressed. Her issues with Matt would have to wait.

B.A.U. Office, Virginia…

"We have three female victims, all successful Brunettes, mid-thirties." J.J. began. "All three strangled and sexually assaulted."

Emily was doing her best to pay attention, but she could not get the events of the previous night out of her head. It's like it was imprinted in her brain.

The Night before…

"Hey baby, can I take you're truck to go hang out with Jeff, mine is out of gas and I don't feel like filling up." Matt had asked.

"Sure. Are we still going to dinner?" Emily had replied.

"Probably not tonight. I already promised Jeff and Beth that we'd go to this concert. Maybe tomorrow." Matt had responded.

Emily rolled her eyes and watched her husband walk out the door and hop into her SUV. He peeled out of the drive way and down the street.

Emily sat next to window wishing Matt had asked her to attend the concert with him. She hated when didn't include him in things. After a while, she got up and decided to make herself some dinner. She decided to make Chicken Parmesan, but she need to get some Prego.

"I'll just put gas in his truck while I'm out." Emily said to herself as she grabbed her purse and his keys.

She headed to the local gas station and grabbed a cheap bottle of Pinot Nior, Prego, Peanut Butter Cookies, and purchased her gas. When she was finished pumping the gas, she hopped in the truck and threw the bag in the back seat. As she turned the corner into her drive way, the bag in the back seat fell over and her items rolled all over the back of the truck.

"Great!" She said to herself. After she parked the truck, she climbed into the back seat and began to pick up her things. She couldn't find her wine, so she got down on the floorboard and began looking under the seats.

After a few seconds of searching, she spotted the wine bottle. She also spotted a red piece of metal that looked like it was attached to some cloth. She stuck her hand under the seat and when her fingers touched it, she knew what it was. It was lace. She quickly pulled her hand from under the seat and hanging between her fingers was a 42DD Read Lace Bra.

"Well, this definitely isn't mine." Emily said to herself.

She barely remembered the walk from the truck to the house. She also didn't remember picking up the phone and calling her husband, telling him it was an emergency and begging him to come home.

Within the next two hours, Matt was walking in the door. He looked like he had run a marathon.

"What's wrong, you sounded distracted on the phone." Matt said as he walked into the bedroom where Emily was sitting on the bed looking at their Wedding Album.

"Who is she?" Was the only thing that Emily could say. She had spent the past few hours trying not to cry.

"Who?" Matt asked as he told himself that there was no way Emily could know about Lauri.

"The woman that you are sleeping with that wears a 42DD bra. Like this bra." She said as she held up the bra. "I found it under the seat in your truck."

"Stay calm. Think of a lie!" Matt said to himself. "What were you doing in my truck?"

"I WENT AND GOT YOU GAS! I PUT GAS IN YOUR TRUCK AND BOUGHT A BOTTLE OF WINE AND WHEN MY WINE SLID UNDER YOUR SEAT, I FOUND THIS. WHOSE IS THIS?" Emily screamed. Now the tear were coming. They were uncontrollable.

"I'm not even going to lie. That bra belongs to the woman I've been sleeping with! She likes to have fun and go places. She's the kind of woman I should have married." Matt screamed back.

"What? I try to do things with you. I try to go places with you and you always push me away!" Emily cried as she started ripping the pages out of the album. They were all lies. Every smiling picture was a lie.

"Stop doing that shit!" Matt screamed as he grabbed the album from her.

"Emily! Emily" J.J. Said.

Emily snapped back to reality. "Yes."

"Are you willing to go undercover to help us catch this unsub?" J.J. repeated.

"Of course." Emily said. After the meeting, she vowed to get her head straight. If she was going to be undercover, she had to have a clear mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Cedar Rapids, Ia.

"So, I'm going undercover as a Social Worker, I fit the killer's model of bait?" Emily asked. It was only the millionth time she had asked. She had every detail of this situation down packed. They had narrowed down the unsub to someone who had been visited by each of the victims on the same day. They were women who had been assigned by the court to determine if he was a suitable father for his motherless daughter. Emily was now going to be the 4th woman to walk into the line of fire, but unlike the other women, she was prepared. She had her gun, a bug in her ear, and a black belt in karate.

"That's right!" Morgan said as he let her out of the truck at the social services office. Emily quickly made her way to one of the government provided social service vehicles and unlocked the door with a set of keys that had been previously provided to her. This was her first undercover mission, but she was ready.

Airport, Charlotte, NC…

"Have you heard from Emily yet?" Jeff asked Matt.

"Nope. I'm assuming they went on some sort of assignment because her phone is turned off." Matt replied into the phone. He was beginning to feel bad about the situation from the previous night. He was also getting nervous because this was the first time Emily had ever left on an assignment without calling him.

"She must have been serious." Matt said to himself as he headed towards his terminal. "I really messed up this time."

Eastern Iowa Airport….A few hours later….

"Thank you for flying Delta." The flight attendant said as Matt made his way off the plane. He was in town for a Smackdown event, but he wasn't in the mood for wrestling. He was depressed and the only thing that would make it better would be an open bar and a blonde stripper with no inhibitions.

Walking through the small airport, Matt saw a familiar face walking towards him.

"J.J. What are you doing here?" Matt asked as J.J. approached.

"We're all here on assignment. Emily didn't tell me you were coming to town." J.J. replied.

"Yeah, we're doing a show at the U.S. Cellular Center. Where's Emily?" Matt inquired. He was really interested in seeing her. He didn't believe in coincidences. He felt that there was a reason that he and his wife had mysteriously ended up in the same town.

"You can't say anything, but she's undercover. So, if you see, her, just pretend you don't because we can not blow her cover." J.J. advised.

"Gotcha." Matt said. They said their goodbyes and walked away from each other.

Home of David Thompson…

"Hello, Mr. Thompson, My name is Miss Bethany Collins, I'm from the Department of Child Welfare Services. May I come in?" Emily lied.

"Sure." Mr. Thompson said as he stepped aside to let Emily in.

As she entered the small house, she noted the roaches running around and the horrible stench. Even though she wasn't a real social worker, she was going to report this to someone. This was definitely not any environment for a child. As she walked further into the house, she noticed a small group of men sitting in the living room.

"Hello Gentlemen." Emily said, "My name is Miss Collins."

"These are some of the other elders in our congregation. Their home are adjacent to mine." Mr. Thompson said with a smile on his place.

"Adjacent as in they live next door or adjacent as in their homes are attached to your home?" Emily asked. It wasn't the question that she asked, but how she asked it that got her in trouble. Big trouble.

U.S. Cellular Center, Friday Night Smackdown…

"You ready?" Eve asked after the show had wrapped. Matt had lost yet another match to Brian McIntyre and he was not in the mood to be coherent. He and Eve were going out to a local bar and hopefully back to his hotel room afterwards.

"I'm ready." Matt replied sullenly.

They caught a cab to _The Fifth Gear _and spent the evening drinking and enjoying each other's company. As the night progressed, Matt decided that he was not in the mood to go home with Eve that evening. She was gorgeous, but Matt, for once, he was longing to spend the evening with Emily. Which wasn't going to happen, because he wasn't able to keep his loins under control. Great!

House of Mr. Thompson, Cedar Rapids, IA…

"MIZZ Collins, the same DNA my not run through our bones, but we are a family. All of us." Mr. Thompson advised.

"Well, I'm here specifically regarding you and your daughter, Sarah. While The State does not feel that it's best to remove her from your care, we do feel that this whole sect thing you have going can be detremental to her." Emily began. She could feel herself sinking. She began to get nervous when she head Hotch in the bug in her ear. What she didn't know was that Mr. Thompson's "brothren" had heard it too.

Michael, one of the men sitting on the couch, stood and walked briskly toward her. He grabbed Emily by the arm and began frisking her. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. Between his thumb and his index finger, he held the tiny bug that had once been planted in Emily's ear.

"My, oh my! Look what we have here." Michael said as he held the bug up.

"MIZZ COLLINS! This don't look so good for you! Round everyone up and take them to The Place. MIZZ COLLINS and I will meet you there shortly." David advised.

This wasn't good, Emily thought to herself.


	3. Chapter 3

The House Across the street from David Thompson's house…

"I'm getting worried, Emily hasn't checked in for about an hour." Morgan stated. At that moment, his phone rang. It was Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia.

"They found it. After Emily didn't check in for a while, I pulled up all the data that was transmitted from it within the past few hours and I heard a conversation between Mr. Thompson and another man. They were talking about what to do with the "Federal Agent."" Garcia began.

A hush fell over the room. Prentiss was in trouble and they had to think quickly to help her.

"Okay, do we have a number to the house? Maybe we can call and negotiate?" Hotch suggested.

"Getting the number now." Garcia said she looked up the number. She read the number off to the team and disconnected the call.

Hotch dialed the number and listened intently.

"Hello Officer, I believe that I have something that belongs to you." David said.

"I'm not an officer, I'm a Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI, and yes, you do have something that belongs to me." Hotch began. "We would like to handle this as peacefully as possible. The only way this can end peacefully is if you work with me."

"This is going to end peacefully for me. It's in the Lord's plans." David said calmly. "However, it was not in the Lord's plan for you to send some Federal Agent in here to set me up. I know this is about those girls that ended up dead. They weren't in the Lord's plan either."

"Right now, our main concern is getting that agent back with minimal loss of life on your side." Hotch continued.

"So you think. Listen, if you would like to work together on this, we can do that. The women and children in my congregation are hungry. Your people will bring them food. After they eat, I will contact you again. We can talk then." David said as he hung up the phone.

Marriott Hotel, Cedar Rapids, IA…

"Eve, I think it's best that you leave now." Matt said as he climbed out of the bed and looked for his shorts. Even though he knew it was wrong, he still ended up in bed with her. Typical Matt Hardy. He loved his wife very much, but he was never able to help himself when it came to other women. He had been cheating on her from day one. On their wedding night, he had run to the gas station to grab a pack of cigarettes, and in the process he met and slept with the store clerk. He knew it was wrong, but it always felt right.

"Good idea." Eve said as she pulled her dress over her head. She wasn't sad or disappointed. Behind the scenes of Smackdown was like a sex pot. No one cared if anyone was married or who they slept with. All they cared about was having sex.

Eve left the room and Matt light a cigarette. He had smoked so much that night that he barely knew what it felt like to breath in clean air anymore. He was trying to keep himself from calling Emily, but it was hard.

"If I call her and she accepts me back, I have to stop cheating." Matt thought to himself. "Can I do that? Really do that?"

He sat back and decided that it was best to let Emily go. He was never going to be the man that she deserved. She deserved a man who would love her and be faithful to her. A man that would bring her flowers and ask about her day at work. The things he had never done for her. The only thing that he had ever really done for her was get her tickets to a Bon Jovi Concert one year on her birthday. The only reason he had done that was because Lauri was going to the concert and they had plans to meet in the bathroom during the concert.

Yeah, he definitely wasn't the man for her. He decided to call his lawyer in the morning. He'd as the lawyer to draw up the paper work and send it to Emily. He'd tell Emily she could have whatever she wanted as long as the marriage was over. With that decided, Matt finished what was left of his beer and hit the hay. It was going to be a difficult next few months, so he wanted to make sure he was well rested to deal with it.

The next day…

Matt woke up to the sound of his alarm clock screeching in his ear. He got out of bed and took a shower. Upon exiting the shower he checked his phone. Even though he had decided to file for divorce, he checked his phone to see if Emily had called. He knew she was undercover, but he stilled had hope that she would slip away and call him. She hadn't. He got dressed, packed his things and called his lawyer. The lawyer advised him that the paperwork would be delivered to Emily when she got back to town. With that, Matt left the hotel and headed to the bar. If he was going to do this, it wasn't going to be sober.


	4. Chapter 4

House across the street from David Thompson's house…

"We can't drug them and we can't send a bug in with the food. They'll find it in no time." Rossi advised.

They had spent the better part of a few hours trying to figure out ways to help Prentiss. She had gone from a Federal Agent to a hostage. Now they had to get her back.

"We can shoot bugs into the building." Hotch suggested. "We have some of the best tactical and technical minds in the Nation on our side. There is no reason that we haven't already done this by now."

The Team decided that this was a good idea. While the food for the women and children was being prepared and delivered, the bugs were being planted. This put the team at ease. Emily had been doing this job long enough to know that the team would be bugging the place. She would find the bugs and be back in communication with the team.

Living Room at David Thompson's house…

"So, MIZZ COLLINS, you're a Federal Agent?" David asked redundantly. He already knew that she was.

"Yes, I'm S.S.A. Emily Prentiss. I work for the FBI. I came to find out about the three young women that were found dead after visiting you. You were the last person to see them alive. All of them. Coincidental? I think not." Emily began. She was trying to hold David's attention for as long as possible. She did not want him to turn around and see the officer running across his lawn. She knew that the Officer was planting a bug and she wanted to do her best to make sure the bug was planted. When the Officer was out of view, Emily stopped talking.

As if for Divine Intervention, David went over and opened the window. Emily was so grateful. The Team would be able to hear them more clearly now.

"Shut up bitch!" David said as he swung at Emily with his fist. He struck the side of her face and she fell to the ground. She was now genuinely scared. However, she was not going to let her team know she was scared. If they rushed into the house, there was a chance that the other member of this Cult like entity could get scared and harm them or even the women or children. That was not going to happen on her watch.

"It's okay, I can take it." Emily screamed as she stammered to her feet.

Across the street…

"I can take it!" The team heard Emily scream. They all became disheartened. This man was hurting one of their own and they couldn't do anything about it.

"We could go in." Morgan suggested.

"No, she's trying to tell us not to. She has it under control. I think." J.J. replied. She had always secretly disliked Emily. It wasn't because Emily was a bad person, it was because she had been sleeping with Matt for the past few years. Every weekend that Matt was on the road, she would fly out and see him wrestle. Emily never did that. She always put work ahead of her marriage.

"I deserved to be Mrs. Matt Hardy, not her." J.J. thought to herself as the slaps and screams echoed through the speakers.

After a few moments it was all over. The only thing that came from the speakers was the sound of faint crying. Then the sound of Emily pulling herself off the ground and her high heels clicking on the wood floors of the house. After that, they heard complete silence.

The team sat for a few moments and thought out what was going on. This was horrible.

Genghis Grill, Cedar Rapids, IA…

"Oh my gosh, Matt Hardy! Can I get your autograph?" A girl asked as she walked up to him while he sat at the bar. He didn't really remember how he got there, but he did remember ordering glass after glass of Pinot Noir. Matt hated wine, but he felt strangely drawn to it tonight. Maybe because Emily loved it. Emily loved to get drunk off wine. It was like her thing. She would pass on the beer, but she would never pass on the wine.

After realizing that the girl was still standing next to him, Matt agreed to an autograph and a picture. Afterwards, he paid his tab and headed back to the hotel. He had to catch a flight the next morning and for once, he didn't want to leave straight from the bar to the airport. He wanted to get some sleep first.

Matt stumbled back into his hotel room and flopped down on the bed. He pulled out his phone and decided to text his wife. He was finally breaking down. He needed to talk to her.

_**PLEASE TALK TO ME. **_He text. Little did he know, there was no way that Emily was going to be able to return his text.

After waiting a few minutes, he decided to hit the hay. Hopefully, she would text back the next day. She wouldn't though.

House of David Thompson…

"Get up Miss Collins. Pick your things up. We are going to the basement." David instructed.

Emily took a moment to collect herself before doing as instructed. Her head was pounding and her knees were week. Her left eye hurt too much to open and she was pretty sure that her nose was bleeding. She grabbed her purse and followed David down the stairs to join the others in the basement. Emily knew that there was no way that the bugs pick up noise from the basement.

"Everyone stay calm. The enemy is bringing food. They won't try anything funny, however, because I advised them that we have women and children. Just to reassure, MIZZ COLLINS, will eat first. We'll watch for side effects." David began.

The other people in the room kept their eyes glued on Emily. Some seemed shocked, others not so much. They stared at the cuts and bruises that camaflauged the face of a very pretty woman.

Emily tried to remain calm. She listened as David contacted the members of her team. Arraingments were made for the food to be delivered. David also attempted to negotiate Emily's release. However, who ever was on the other end of the line, refused to negotiate.

"Who the hell is that?" Emily thought to herself. "Why wouldn't they negotiate something this important? My life is on the line!"

Across the street from David Thompson's house….

"We don't negotiate with criminals Mr. Thompson. You either release your hostages or we send in a SWAT Team and we gun down everyone in our path!" J.J. yelled into the phone. Agent Rossi had walked into the room and heard the tale end of the conversation. He quickly grabbed the phone from J.J. and hung up.

"What the hell are you doing? Of course we negotiate! We want to get as many people out of that house safely as possible. You may have just signed all of their death certificates!" Rossi screamed. J.J. had been acting weird since news of Emily's kidnapping. It was something the entire team had noticed.

"I don't think it's appropriate of this situation. People are going to die in that house. There is absolutely nothing we can do about that." J.J. said nonchalantley.

Neither person noticed the fact that the rest of the team was standing in the doorway listening to their conversation.

"Why did you choose this case J.J.?" Hotch asked, startling her. "Why did you suggest that Emily go undercover? How did David Thompson know that she was a Federal Agent? I mean, normally, a uniformed office would have gone undercover to handle a situation as small as this; but I was thinking and Mr. Thompson referred to her as a Federal Agent before she had a chance to confirm. That's a huge coincidence!"

"I…I don't know how Mr. Thompson knew. We took this case because I want to catch this guy!" J.J. said confidently. She was actually lying.

"Bull Shit!" Morgan interjected.

"That's enough!" Hotch yelled. Everyone in the room fell silent. "We don't have time for this right now! One of our own is in the house next door and we don't know if she's alive or dead. We don't have time to argue of this. Here's what we're going to do. Morgan, you and Rossi will go with the SWAT Team. You guys are going into the house. Get as many women and children out as possible. Also, I want you guys looking for Emily. Next, J.J. you're off this case and you're suspended until further review of your actions. Officers, please escort Ms. Jareau off the premise and to the airport. She's headed back to Virginia."

"I don't need this shit. I quit!" J.J. screamed as she walked from the room. She knew she was beaten. She had played the game and loss. She had no idea what would happen when she got back to Virginia and she didn't care. She wanted to see Matt and she wanted to see him now.

_**Are you still in town? **_J.J. text. After a few moments, a reply came across her screen.


	5. Chapter 5

Marriot Cedar Rapids, IA…

_**Are you still in town? **_Read the text that Matt received from J.J.. It was almost 2:00 am and Matt hadn't been able to sleep. He had this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. After a few moments of contemplation, he decided to text back.

_**Yeah. I'm leavin in the mornin. Is Em still workin? Ive tried to call her a few times! **_His reply read.

_**NO! She went home yesterday. I stayed behind to finish up some work with the PD! I just wanted to see if you wanted to get together. **_J.J. lied.

Matt was pissed. There was no way she could have received the divorce papers yet, so why hadn't she called or text him. Even though she was mad, she knew that he'd be worried about her.

I do want to get together. I'm staying at the Marriot on the NorthEast side. I'll meet you in the lobby! Matt text back. He was very angry and J.J. was just the person to calm him down.

J.J. arrived at the hotel about 20 minutes after their conversation. Matt spent the evening taking out his anger on her body. That was the way that J.J. liked it. Every time Matt and Emily argued, Matt would call J.J. because she liked the aggression, she said it was "sexy"!

They fell asleep in each other's arms around 4 am. Right before Matt fell asleep he thought about his situation. J.J. was definitely not the woman for him, but she was nice company for the time being.

David Thompson's house….

Everyone had eaten and now they were tired. There wasn't enough room for everyone to sleep in the basement so, some people, including Emily, were taken up stairs to sleep in the various rooms in the house. Emily was very excited about this. She knew that if she above ground, that there was a chance that she would be able to communicate with her team.

"You sleep in here, alone!" Joseph, one of David's minions advised her. "Don't try any funny business, we will be coming in to check on you every hour, we will also be outside, so don't think about escaping!"

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Emily replied sarcastically. When Joseph left the room, Emily began searching for the flashing black light. All bugs were outfitted with flashing black lights because there weren't easy to see in the dark. The only way you would see one is if you were looking for it.

"Bingo!" Emily said as she saw the flash of light coming from the window pane. The climbed in the bed and lay there for a second, just in case Joseph or David were stand outside the door listening.

After a moment, she looked outside and saw them standing in the yard looking towards the house across the street.

"They know!" She thought. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Emily curled up on the bed and began talking in the direction of the bug. She prayed that the team could hear her.

House across the street from David Thompson's house…

"Did you hear that?" Morgan asked when he heard the faint voice coming from the speakers. "It's Emily!"

"Be quite everyone, Emily is trying to tell us something." Hotch advised.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, there are 5 men, 6 women, and 18 children here. The children are in the basement, David didn't want them to possibly get hurt. If you're coming, come in through The house adjacent to this one. No one is over there and no one is watching it. They have a lot of firepower. If you bring a team in, be quick, they might get crazy. Also, if possible, could you please call Matt and tell him I still love him. It doesn't sound like it makes sense, but please just let him know that and that I'd love to see him." Emily said as she ended her soliloquy.

The Team took this new information and ran with it. While they were getting ready to invade the house next door, Morgan took out his phone and began dialing.

Marriott, Cedar Rapids, IA…

"Ring Ring!" Screeched. It was 4:00 am and Matt had a plane to catch in a few hours.

"DAMN IT!" Matt yelled as he jumped from J.J.'s arms and grabbed his phone.

"HELLO! I hope this is good!" Matt yelled into the phone.

J.J. sat in the bed and held the blanket over her naked body.

"Why would someone be calling at this hour. It must be Emily. Damn! He's going to be pissed!" J.J. thought to herself.

"Matt, it's Derek Morgan, I work with Emily." Morgan began. "I don't know if you're aware, but Emily has been working undercover for the past few days."

"I know. She went home yesterday." Matt interjected.

"No she didn't. She's still working this case. That's why I'm calling. We have bugs outside the premises where she's at and something has gone wrong inside that house. They found out that she was a Fed and they beat her up pretty badly. Anyways, she found a bug and gave us some information about the layout of the house and the people in it. The reason for my call is because she also asked that I call you and tell you she still loves you and she wants to see you. We're going into this house in an hour and I think you should be outside when your wife walks out." Morgan explained.

Matt was stunned. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Everything in his world came to a screeching halt. J.J. was a liar. She had told him that Emily was home. He needed a minute to process this information.

"Alright dude, I'll be there." Matt advised Morgan as he hung up the phone.


	6. Chapter 6

5 Minutes Later…

"Matt! I've been calling your name for the past few minutes." J.J. yelled. She hadn't known who was on the other line, but by the way Matt was looking at her she knew It was bad.

"That was Derek Morgan. He just advised me that my wife was taken hostage and beaten up last night while working. That's crazy because based on what you told me, she should have been home now." Matt said sternly.

J.J. didn't reply. She just stared at him. She watched him walk closer to her and lean over the bed.

"Why did you lie to me? I'm playing "kissy face" with you and MY WIFE is being assaulted by some dick." Matt yelled.

"You never cared about what she did at work before? Why now?" J.J. asked sarcastically. Even though it sounded mean, it was true. Matt had never cared enough about Emily to respect her or what she did at work.

"I was wrong before. I was wrong for cheating on her and for not showing her the attention she deserved. I'm gonna change though. I'm going to be the man she deserves. With that being said, I'm going to that house, I'm going to be there when my wife walks out. Then I'm going to pick her up in my arms, I'm going to give her a kiss and I'm going take her home. So, please don't call me anymore. Ever" Matt advised.

With that, he got dressed, called a cab and rode out to Mr. Thompson's house. He was serious about everything he had told J.J.. This night was his moment of clarity. Hearing that Emily had been hurt made him see that divorce was not an option. He needed Emily. He couldn't live without her.

David Thompson's house….

"Get on the Ground! FBI!" Morgan screamed when he had entered the house. Everything had gone so quickly. Emily was barely able to hurl herself off the bed before the shooting started. She was so weak, she didn't know if she was able to walk. Thankfully, Agent Rossi was there to help her to the door. They were the last two people out of the house. All the women and children had been escorted to safely moment before and all the men had went down shooting. When Emily reached the door. She saw someone standing on the lawn that didn't look like an officer or an agent. He was wearing flip flops, basket ball shorts a wife beater, and a backwards North Carolina Tarheels ball cap. His long hair was pulled into a bun. After Emily was able to focus her eyes, she recognized her husband. Without thinking, she ran to him. She threw her arms around Matt and held him tightly. Matt followed suit and did the same.

After a few moments of hugging, Matt pulled Emily's face off of his shoulder and held it in his hands. For the first time, he saw the damage that was done to her face. His eyes began to well with tears.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you. I know you wouldn't have taken this assignment if I hadn't hurt you. I'm sorry baby!" Matt told her.

"Don't be mad at yourself. I don't want to talk about any of the past, I just want to start working things out so we can have a future." Emily cried. She meant every word of what she said. She didn't want to deal with the past right now, she just wanted to plan for a future with Matt. For some reason, she could feel that this situation would change them for the better. She had this eerie feeling that things were going to be okay.

After a few more minutes of hugging, Matt helped Emily to the ambulance that was parked outside of the house. He wiped the tears from her face and they waited for her to be examined by the EMTs.

Emily was examined and released. The EMTs advised her that the damage looked worse than it actually was. With this, Matt called a cab and they headed back to his hotel.

On the ride over to the hotel, Matt came clean about everything. J.J., Eve, and Lauri, the owner of the lace bra Emily had found. The entire ride was filled with tears. Emily could not stop crying because she was hurting and Matt could not stop crying because he was causing Emily to hurt. It was an intense situation.

Once they reached the hotel, however, it was another situation. There were no more tears. In the hotel room they acted like two teenagers. Matt increased the length of his stay and called Mr. McMahon to let him know that he would be missing the next few tapings, including the next pay-per-view. Mr. McMahon was not happy with him. Matt, however, did not care. He needed time to try to fix the many problems he had created in his marriage.

After ordering about $400 worth of room service, they sat on Matt's bed and talked.

"Did you know that this is the first real conversation we've had in 5 years?" Emily questioned.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard; but I know it's true. I'm so sorry Em!" Matt said. He then leaned in and kissed her forehead. He was truly sorry. He just hoped that he could prove that to his wife.


	7. Chapter 7

Six Months Later, Cameron, NC….

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Matt asked his wife. It had been half a year since the incident in Cedar Rapids and half a year since the Hardy's had began trying to fix their marriage.

"Yeah, I want to do this. I want to start a family, I can't do that working for the B.A.U." Emily answered. She loved working for the FBI, but she knew that she would love being a stay at home mom even more.

"You know I support anything you do." Matt reassured.

Emily, for once, did know this. Matt had been completely supportive of every decision she had made since they had returned home. When she found out that they couldn't have children, Matt had supported her decision to adopt. When she found the perfect mother to adopt from, Matt had supported her decision to adopt her. Finally, when she decided to put in her two weeks notice, so that she could get their home ready for their new addition, Matt had supported that decision as well.

Emily left the house and returned about 5 hours later. Matt, Jeff, and Shannon were all crowded in the room that would soon be their new daughter's room, when Emily returned home.

"Matt! Where are you? I need help." Emily screamed through the house.

Matt dashed down the stares to his wife's aid.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing! I got some stuff for the baby and I need you to help me get it from the truck." Emily advised.

"Why are home so early, I thought you were working today?" Matt asked as he rounded the guys up so they could help get the stuff from truck.

"I was going to work today, but when I got there, I couldn't concentrate. I decided to use the two weeks of vacation time I had saved up, so I'm actually not even going back to work." Emily explained.

While Matt and Emily were talking, Jeff and Shannon were unloading the packages from Emily's truck. Everyone was excited about the new baby, so they were trying to help out as much as possible.

"That's cool then baby. I talked to Mr. McMahon today and I'll be home for the next two months. They are going to tell everyone that I got hurt. Can you stand that much time with me?" Matt asked.

"Of course I can!" Emily replied. She then gave her husband a big kiss and started listing out all the things she had purchased for the baby. The biological mother of their little girl was getting close to her due date, so Emily was getting increasingly antsy. Matt was getting increasingly nervous.

"After everything we just went through. Is it time for a baby?" He would think from time to time.

It was okay though. Emily would always find a way to reassure him that their life as parents was going to be exiting.

A few months later…

"Abigail, you are such a good girl." Matt cooed over his daughter. Emily had been right all along. Being a parent was the best thing Matt could have ever asked for. Now his family was complete and his life was full of joy. For once, he was doing everything right. He liked the feeling!


End file.
